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How Far Along: 23 weeks, six days, but let's just round up and say 24 okay?

Total Weight Gain: Dunno. Probably a lot. I feel like an elephant. Already. And a budding case of fat face is doing nothing to help matters.

Maternity Clothes: Not really? Question mark? Despite being super gigantic, I'm living by the rule that leggings are indeed pants, and avoiding the whole maternity clothing question because I'm already huge and where do you buy nice maternity clothing in Jakarta and just gha. When more formality is required, I'm doing lots of dresses and skirts of the maxi variety. Annnnndd, I still have two pairs of "fat pants" that can still close. Sort of.

Stretch Marks: So far, so good. I didn't get any last time around, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes and also slathering myself in all sorts of potions, and draining the tropics of all the coconut oil.

Sleep: Fantastic, as long as I don't sleep with Stella. Otherwise, I get up a million times per night to pee and / or fret about how Stella's going to wake up any minute now. The problem, though, is that Stella cuddles in her sleep, something she won't do in wakefulness. And also, she's totally the best, and I miss her when I'm unconscious. However, I can not be a human unless I get a proper nights sleep, so big life questions and stuff.

What I'm Missing: Not being gigantic. Cross fit. Pushing myself at the gym. Though at basically six months pregnant I decided that, eff it, I'm going to start running again. And that's working out pretty well for all involved (except for every Indonesian person in the gym who is all like OMG call the pregnancy police!!!)

Movement: Lots! I love it! Little Baby Boy is so much more active than Stella was, and I've felt him much, much, much, earlier.

Food Cravings: None. Really. Though, over the weekend, I DID lose a stand-off with a loaf of banana bread (see also: being gigantic.)

Feeling: Pretty good. Better than last pregnancy, I think. Unless I'm exhausted from Stella Sleepovers, and then terrible.

When I was pregnant with Stella I was pretty diligent about eating well. I took my prenantals and my omegas and I'd fight food aversions, gagging and choking my way through a plate full of greens. I was pretty careful to get my five servings of veggies a day, and was succeeded probably about 80 percent of the time.

This time around, I'm all, I think I ate some vegetable matter today, and uhhh, so cereal for dinner, right?Meanwhile, I make sure Stella still gets her fill of veggies, because I believe in good nutrition.

I'm pretty sure that this is the first manifestation of second child syndrome. Sorry, Little Boy.

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So, one thing about Jakarta is that they're super suuuuuuuuuper into security measures. Every time we come back to our building, our car is checked by a minimum of three security guards and a sniffer dog. To enter the building, we have to walk through a metal detector. BUT, show up with a baby bump? And they'll wave you right through, no check needed. Which is hilarious, because I'm pretty sure that if the metal detectors really had any impact at all on the pregnancy it would be most pronounced in the first three months? No? Anyway. Science has the answers, I guess.

It kind of reminds me of in China when women would show up to work six weeks preg with a "radiation smock" which was nothing more than a super ugly apron à la kindergarten paint center that apparently protected the fetus from computer radiation. Or whatever. Because it's not like existing in the world and the sun emitting rays exposes us to radiation, ohhhhhhhh no. Nope.

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You know how in North America there's kind of an unwritten rule that you don't ask a woman about her pregnancy unless she's, like, in labour in front of you?

The same rule does not apply here.

People have been asking me what's up with my reproductive organs well before the three month mark, and there's only so much I can to evade the comments. And then, last week, I got mauled. Literally mauled. For a belly cuddle by a woman with whom I have a passing acquaintance. And this is what I have to say about that: NOPE. THATZ NOT OKAY.

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I think we've settled on a name! A NAME! Although Stella has yet to buy into our choice. She's lobbying pretty hard for Baby Kira or Michelle (the female version). Because in her world, baby will become a girl when he comes out. So.

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Speaking of Stella, she's looking forward to her brother! She tells me how she's going to teach him how to play. And when he's sad, she's going to cuddle him. And I'm not allowed to nurse him, because she wants to feed him a bottle, and besides, he will eat real food anyway, and he's not allowed to have amm-amm (breastmilk). So, basically she's the cutest.

Speaking of my awesome kid, she wanted to show you her baby bump:

She'd also like to implore you to vote for us on Top Baby Blogs. Please and thanks!

That Wild Road Photography

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